When my tongue clicks, it means you’re killing me

The sheer helpless terror Jamie Merrett would have felt as his ventilator cut out is well known to the author, who lives with the same condition

Hampson says Jamie Merrett's tragedy was an accident waiting to happen (Richard Stanton)
‘What is it about horror movies you enjoy so much?” a friend asked last week
after perusing my collection of DVDs. He was wrong; “enjoy” is not word. I love
horror movies.

I love Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers and Hannibal Lecter — the gore, the
merrier. Why? It’s hard to explain. Maybe it’s because I know what a real
scream sounds like. Maybe it’s because, like all tetraplegics, I know how
real terror feels.

I was reminded of that feeling last Tuesday when the news broke about Jamie
Merrett, once a plumber and keen rugby player, until a car crash in 2002
left him tetraplegic — paralysed from the neck down and needing a ventilator
to breathe. In the years following his accident, Jamie had rebuilt a life at
his home in Devizes, Wiltshire, and retained some independence.

He could talk and direct his own care, operate a wheelchair with a chin